News End and review of the 2018 adventure for MC. And what an adventure it's been!

monday November 26 - Jerez de la Frontera, the trucks are lined up ready to return to Montluçon. Two of us set off, the other two will leave later, the season being over, there's no hurry...
One last look at the circuit, then it's the freeway due north. Seville, Caceres, Salamanca, Valladolid and finally Burgos for the night. Almost 800 km swallowed up in the day. The fine weather accompanied me and allowed me to admire the Spanish landscape one last time, this year anyway...

on Tuesday 27th, in theory it should take me a dozen hours to reach Dunlop Motorsport. First I'll cross the border at Irun, then head for Bordeaux before turning off to the north-east. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out the way they had the day before, starting with an accident involving two HGVs on the A63 a few km before Bordeaux. The freeway was closed for two hours, followed by a two-hour yellow vest roadblock on the outskirts of Saint Junien, and finally a new roadblock - or rather blockade - at the entrance to Limoges.

i wanted to spend one last night in my truck, but I didn't imagine it as a night at the wheel, but rather in the bunk of my faithful steed in the middle of a truck stop parking lot, with a meal and shower beforehand. The demonstrators decided otherwise. So I spent most of the night 200 m from a strategic traffic circle for them.

wednesday November 28 9:00 am. I get out of my cab for the last time, my truck is docked, all I have to do now is empty my trailer, collect my personal belongings, help my colleagues destock and put away the tires they brought back from Jerez, and this adventure will be over. Between now and tomorrow morning, barely a dozen hours in the midst of these tires, these crates, these machines, these trailers that I've been rubbing shoulders with for the last ten months. I take the time to transfer each tire from one of the trailers to one of the racks in the central depot. These chunks of rubber will stay warm and dry until next season. There's even a good chance that, in February 2019, they'll be sent back down to Jerez for further testing. But for now, we need to empty the three tire trailers and the trailer that serves as office, transport and structure anchor. All four must be empty and accessible in order to pass the mandatory technical inspections.

thursday November 29, 1pm. The trailers are empty and put away, my contract is finished.

i get out of the canteen at the Dunlop factory, where I've had a last meal with my colleagues, and head for my car. I know the way back by heart: Montmarault, Roanne, Lyon, Chambéry and then my lodgings. No more kilometers by truck or plane to reach a circuit or a hotel, the kilometers I'm going to cover today sound the death knell of a wonderful adventure.

4 continents and 13 countries visited
32,540 km by truck, maybe 80,000 by plane
17 motorcycle Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Le Mans + 6 motorcycle2 and motorcycle3 test sessions
Personally, around 6,000 balanced tires

i wish all motorcycle racing enthusiasts the same fantastic results. To experience from the inside what we watch on TV from a different angle. To meet all the men and women who work tirelessly to ensure that tightrope walkers on two wheels can put on an incredible show for hundreds of millions of TV viewers.

from the buildings of Doha to the slums of Bangkok, from the camels of Qatar to the kangaroos of Australia, from the stifling heat of Malaysia to the incessant rain of Silverstone, all these extremes made every moment a discovery.

i couldn't conclude this adventure without a special thought for Roland, who offered me this job, and for all the extraordinary people who enabled me to live a daydream...

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